Online Home Values- Accurate or Not?

At some point most homeowners want to know what their home is worth. Naturally, most of us will do this by going to a big real estate website to find our homes estimated value. These websites fully admit that their estimates are not accurate or reliable. Although the estimated home value may be appropriate for an appraisal, it does not know the true value of your home.

Has anyone from Zillow or Trulia come out to see the interior of your home? Probably not. So if you have recently remodeled or upgraded your home, the uniqueness is unaccounted for. Because online estimates are generated by a computer algorithm, the uniqueness of your home is not accounted for. Online estimates also don't consider other factors like new developments in the neighborhood, transportation improvements, or general supply and demand in the market.

Below are some of the popular sites that offer online price estimates that have limitations with their own data

1. Zillow.com
   1. “The Zestimate is not an appraisal and you won’t be able to use it in place of an appraisal, though you can certainly share it with real estate professionals. It is a computer-generated estimate of the worth of a house today, given the available data. Zillow does not offer the Zestimate as the basis of any specific realestate related financial transaction. Our data sources may be incomplete or incorrect; also, we have not physically inspected a specific home. Remember, the Zestimate is a starting point and does not consider all the market intricacies that can determine the actual price a house will sell for.”
2. Trulia 
   • “If you’re looking for a precise value for your home, or if you’re thinking of selling your home, we recommend you talk to a real estate professional. After all, our algorithms are smart, but we can’t know everything about your home’s features and location. Connect with real estate experts in your area."
3. Homes.com
   • “We’re not suggesting that you use our home value estimate in lieu of an appraisal from a trained professional when selling, purchasing, or refinancing, but it’s the perfect source when you just need a reasonable estimate and you don’t want to wait.”
4. Chase.com
   • “The data and valuations are provided as is without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation, any warranties of merchantability of fitness for a particular purpose. The existence of the subject property and the accuracy of the valuations are estimated based on available data and do not constitute an appraisal of the subject property and should not be relied upon in lieu of underwriting or an appraisal.”
5. Housevalues.com
   1. “For a professional valuation of your home that includes all the information about your property (plus overall condition, style of house, and other features) please contact a real estate expert.”

The first thing that comes to mind is most likely to hire an appraiser. If you want to save money you can have your real estate agent basically do the same thing.  Agents can do this by preparing a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). In a nutshell, this is a compilation of similar properties in the area that have recently sold. After viewing the inside of your home, your agent can then compare them to other homes in the CMA report and then come up with a value.

For help with price, negotiations, and other parts of your real estate transaction, a real estate agent is your best resource!

-Kaylee Monteleone